


Eternal

by PaperhatsAndEvilSchemes



Series: Paperhat? I'm Down For That [11]
Category: Villainous (Cartoon)
Genre: Angst, Lots of Angst, M/M, Paperhat - Freeform, huh, i guess the ppl on archive might think ive died or smth, maybe i should, no big spoilers for things to come or anything, not exactly chronological but, so here u go, some ppl on tumblr were wondering why i hadnt posted it here and i was like
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-22
Updated: 2018-03-22
Packaged: 2019-04-06 15:37:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,458
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14060067
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PaperhatsAndEvilSchemes/pseuds/PaperhatsAndEvilSchemes
Summary: Being immortal and loving a mortal was not a good idea in hindsight





	Eternal

**Author's Note:**

> **SO HEY! Important little message here real quick - this is a fic that's actually been done for a while but I just never posted to AO3, reasons being that it's //technically// out of order to the series. I posted it on tumblr a while back because I had asked people if they wanted me to since Compromise is taking me a looong time lol but yeah they said yes, so it's here now, but just in case you wanted to read it in order (and I will specify where it aligns when the time comes) I just thought I ought to let you all know! (And here are my tumblr posts copy/pasted so u get a general idea of how I explained this there too)**  
>  \----  
> But yeah, for those that don’t know, Eternal is this other fic I’m doing that leads into a later one called Happy Anniversary, so in terms of chronology it’d be a little out of place until the other ones get posted, but I thought I should ask lol. (It’s not really spoiler-y in terms of other fics either, it makes sense on its own and all, too. Just figured I should give you guys the option since the actual next one will take forever haha //dies//)
> 
> So as I said before, this fic isn’t very spoiler-y to other fics, it’s just a bit of a prelude to Happy Anniversary )which i certainly wont be uploading until all the other ones are done bc that one IS spoilery), so it doesn’t need the context of the other fics in order to make sense??? But either way, I’ll reblog this one again after all the ones that go before it are posted, so if you’d rather wait and read everything chronologically when that time comes round, that’s totally up to you. ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯  
> (there’s also a weird time skip of multiple years like halfway thru so idk how i’m going to frame that in the chronology yet but i’ll figure it out lmao bye)
> 
> Author can be more easily reached and posts updates more frequently on their tumblr: https://paperhats-and-evil-schemes.tumblr.com/

They don’t know how it came to this.

Black Hat should have  _expected_ something like this to happen. This customer was  _known_ for not being good with money and probably knee-deep in debt and both Flug and the demon  _knew_ it. She had a reputation for shitty villain work too, and they had  _thought_ she had merely come to them for supplies or advice to  _fix_ that - But how could either of them expect her to do something  _this_ crazy?

“Don’t come any closer.” She warned, pressing her bladed claws even further into Flug’s throat. Any more pressure and she would most definitely draw blood. “I’ll kill him if you do.”

Black Hat stayed where he was, watching the pair with a steel glare. He had very nearly lunged at her just a few moments ago, but those words were more than enough to get him thinking twice, and even Flug’s captor seemed surprised by that. Her voice had been shaking ever since she took him hostage, both from relief and anxiety.

And that’s no surprise. It’s basically  _suicide_ to attempt something so risky in Black Hat’s own  _home_ , in his own  _office_ , no less. If she had guessed wrong about how valuable the scientist was to him, she’d be dead already. That’s common sense.

“Cutlass.” Black Hat addressed the other villain, voice strained through its attempt to hold composure and taking on a  _deathly_ frightening tone in the process, “If you want to leave here alive, I would  _highly_ suggest stepping away from my employee.”

She’d be killed either way, of that much she was convinced. “Try anything and he dies!” Cutlass spat in ignorant response, tightening her grip around Flug’s arms to keep him from moving. The scientist gave a disgruntled huff, but that was about it. Any sort of movement on his end just got those knife-like phalanges closer to cutting his throat.

Black tensed at the increasing risk of Flug getting damaged, an unfamiliarly strong feeling of dread starting to seep into him, but he did everything to keep that from Cutlass’s attention, narrowing his eyes at her.

This shouldn’t have happened. He only turned his back for  ** _one fucking second_**. He  _never_ should have taken an eye off her. He  ** _never_** should have assumed nobody would be  _so **stupid**_ as to  _attack his staff **right in front of him**_ **.**

But stupidity and desperation make a dangerous combination.

“……… So.” Black Hat growled after an uncomfortably long and tense silence. “What is it you’re trying to  _gain_ , then? Because so far, all you’re doing is  _annoying_ me.” A shimmer of black and red danced across his monocle as he hissed. “ ** _And I am not the type of person you want to annoy-_** ”

Black Hat cut off when she began drawing blood from one of Flug’s arms, the scientist wincing slightly. Emerald flames started to lick up the walls as Black Hat’s anger rose, shooting a vicious snarl her way.

“Ah ah ah.” Cutlass warned, dancing her claws along Flug’s neck and earning a shudder from him. Her body had been very strategically placed behind Flug’s like a human shield. “You  _really_ want to risk hitting your only scientist with that testy magic of yours? Besides, even if you  _do_  hit just me, who says I won’t… oh, I don’t know…  _slip?_ ”

As she said it, she dug her claws into Flug’s neck till they drew blood, causing him to jerk back in alarm, almost making the damn cut  _worse_.

 _Now_ Black Hat was  _really_ starting to lose his cool. One could even say he was starting to  _panic_.

Why couldn’t he  _rationalize_!? This is a standard hostage situation, they’re not  _that_ bloody hard to get out of, but his mind was failing him, going  _completely_ blank. For the first time in  _eons_ , the demon actually felt caught in a trap.

“ _What do you **want** , Cutlass?_” He snapped again.

“Hmm…. Well,  _first_ , get your little camera thing in here.”

“Why?”

“Humor me.”

“………..” Not taking his eyes off her and Flug for a moment, Black Hat slowly walked over to his desk, accessing the intercom system. “Cam-bot. My office.”

Flug could feel the grip of his captor loosen for a mere moment, very aware of every subtle movement of her muscles. If he had to guess, he’d say she was  _immensely_ surprised this had been working so far.

Hmm. Obviously this little stunt of hers was not very clearly thought out.

When the camcorder-on-legs eventually skittered inside, Black snapped his fingers, gesturing for it to come to his side which it immediately did.

“There. Cam-bot’s here.” With a tentative glance at Flug, Black Hat then growled to Cutlass, “What now?”

“I want you to beg.”

“ _What?_ ” Black Hat sputtered, and he couldn’t help but laugh a little at the absurdity. “You’re  _not serious_.”

“ ** _Do I not look serious!?_** ” The scream was accented by how the claws around Flug’s arms dug deeper, the scent of blood now reaching the demon across the room and making him bristle with rage.

“ ** _Stop it._** ”

“ ** _Beg_** _me to_.”

A chandelier of silence loomed over them all, hanging by a thread. The supervillain  _actually_ seemed to be  _considering_ it.

Disgusting. Black Hat doesn’t  _plead_. Flug  _refuses_ to be the reason for Black Hat getting  _degraded_ like this. If his hunch was right….

Flug gave an experimental lean forward, slowly pressing his neck further against the blades, despite the risk.

“H-Hey!” With an angry hiss, she readjusted her grip, being more rough with the claws around his  _arms_ , but definitely seemed  _skittish_ in her hurry to move the ones around his neck to a safer position. “No  _fidgeting_ , trashbag!”

Just as he had suspected. Flug’s her only leverage, after all. If  _he_ dies, absolutely  _nothing_ will stop his boss from  _filleting_ her. He just needs an  _opening_ now….

Unfortunately, that little test seemed to shorten her patience. She glared at Black Hat. “ ** _Well!?_** _I’m **waiting!**_ ”

The demon let out a growl, jaw and fists clenched in frustration.  _Him? **Beg?**_  The concept was so  _stupidly ludicrous_.

Another stretch of tense silence went by.

“….. Well then…..”  Cutlass grumbled finally, “I guess he’s not as valuable to you as I thought.”

Flug instinctively jerked back when he felt sharp pressure against his throat, struggling against the grip of his captor, but to no avail. Even if this  _was_ a bluff, she was going to take it as far as it took, dagger claws clenching into their mark–

“ _Please!_ ”

They both froze, attention now glued to Black Hat. It was near impossible not to pick up on the sudden desperation in the demon’s voice. But neither of them were as shocked as Black Hat was that the voice that had just spoken had been his own.

So  _this_ is what it is to be truly afraid.

“Ha…. h-haha….. My god, you actually  _do_ care about him….” Cutlass laughed, nervousness being ironically coupled with a hubristic giggle. “I mean, I’ve heard  _whisperings_ , but seeing it  _myself_ really is something else!~”

Black Hat would’ve snarled all sorts of profanities at her if Flug’s life wasn’t on the line. Currently, his absolute fury was only  _just_ barely being kept in check by that fact.

“Okay, okay– Haha– This is  _brilliant_ –” She snickered to herself, making Flug wish he was at an angle where he could spit on her, “Okay, get that camera recording! The world will  _marvel_ at how I made the mighty Black Hat  _beg to me_!”

“ _Seriously?”_ Black scoffed, “ _That’s_ your big plan?”

“ _I said get that thing recording!_ ” She shouted back, making another threatening movement with her dagger fingers.

A begrudging, annoyed growl rumbled quietly in Black Hat’s chest, but it was sharply contrasted by the anxious glance he shot at Flug before turning to Cam-bot.

“Cam-bot, lock-down mode.”

Before his boss could even touch the machine, its lens shutter suddenly snapped tightly shut, along with all its lights blinking off at Flug’s command. “ _Flug, what the hell!?_ ” The eldritch snapped.

“ _Do you **want** to fucking die!?_” Cutlass roared, sharply jabbing him in the side and getting a short outcry of pain from him. “ _I’ll fucking **do** it, you know! I’ll-!_”

“ _I’ll override the command **manually** , for fuck’s sake,  **don’t kill him!**_ ”

“…… …. …….” The leery-eyed woman went quiet, honestly still surprised by how ‘co-operative’ the demon was being. She waved him on.

One more distressed glance at his employee, and Black Hat put his focus on the camera again, fiddling with it to try and get it bloody  _working_ for him.

 _So far so good_ , Flug thought, staying as still as he could. Black Hat has never been skilled with technology, so him struggling to get Cam-bot out of lock-down mode should buy him a good amount of time. Now he just had to wait until she got lackadaisical with her grip…

All her attention was being captured watching the uncharacteristically fretful Black Hat at the moment,  _relishing_ the moment. It’s a subconscious thing, really, loosening your grip on something when your focus is all being put into something else. And on top of that, she was getting  _waaay_ too confident with herself. So long as Flug stayed still and didn’t draw her attention to him, Cutlass didn’t seem to realize that her inescapable hold on him was gradually becoming more and more escapable.

It was a frustrating wait.

But it was worth it.

Not even leaving a millisecond to tip her off, Flug’s arms shot up out of her grasp and grabbed the hand at his throat, yanking it away and bending himself forward to throw her with all of his weight.

He’s always been stronger than he looks. Couldn’t  _imagine_ Cutlass’s surprise when she had all of a sudden been thrown over the scrawny inventor’s shoulder and to the floor.

Black Hat didn’t skip a beat. As soon as Flug got himself away from her, he whipped around and lunged, his figure transforming into a mass of bone, teeth, and tendrils, hauntingly bright eyes glaring down at her from every inch of him. The demon’s nightmarish form pinned her to the ground, a cacophony of eldritch screams filling the once tensely-silent room and threatening to deafen everyone there.

“Don’t kill me, oh fuck, oh god, don’t kill me don’t kill me–!”

Black Hat’s glowing abyss of a stare bore down into her very soul, narrowing eyes filling to the brim with bitter mordancy.

“ ** _B̷͇̞̦̪͊̾͢e̶͂̔͂͂ͨ͛ͦ̈́͘҉͍̹̣̜g͈͕͈̪͚̳̪̤͌ͨ̔́.̳͓͙̦ͩ̔̽̃̅̿ͣ̉̔ ”_**

“Please,” She compliantly sobbed, shaking, “Please don’t kill me,  _please_ ….!”

Not bloody likely.

With a feral roar, he tore her apart, blood and bones painting the walls. Her fate had been sealed the moment she touched Flug.

When he was done with his carnage, his form went back to its default.

“Ugh, finally she’s out of the way,” Flug muttered, shaking out his stiff limbs and wincing slightly at the movements of some of the cuts. He gave Black Hat a confused frown. “ _Honestly_ , sir… Why’d you lose your cool like that…?  _You_ of all people should’ve known she wouldn’t have  _really_ killed me–”

His voice cut short when he was suddenly caught in a desperate hug from the other, almost toppling the scientist over from the rapid movement.

“I… Black Hat….?” Flug said slowly, confusion growing, “What’s–?”

“I love you.”

The scientist’s eyes went wide with pleasant surprise. What had always been a phrase that Black Hat was never able to say past his own gagging all of a sudden rolled off his tongue as if he said it a million times before.

“I-I…. uh…..” Rendered speechless, Flug had no idea what to do. He lifted his arms as best he could to return the hug, confused. “I… I love you, too….” His frown deepened, feeling his partner tremble very slightly. “Black Hat….? What’s wrong…..?”

“You could have died.” Black mumbled, voice tense, “You could have  _died_ , Flug, you could have……. What if you… What if you had  _died_ and I never even said……?” He clung tighter, head rushing with invasively grim thoughts.

“Hey, hey…. I-I’m  _fine_ , Black Hat, you don’t have to worry….”

“You could have  _died_ …. You could have died….”

“But I…. I  _didn’t_ …..”

Flug bit his tongue, not getting much of a response out of him aside from him repeating those four depressing words under his breath. Could all-powerful demons go into shock…? Either way, the scientist tried to calm him with gentle back-rubbing…

“I’m  _okay_ , Black Hat…. Everything’s fine….”

For things that aren’t Black Hat, mortality is unavoidable.  _Everything_ dies.

Has that just been a reality he’s been refusing to acknowledge?

….. He’s never been scared to  _lose_ anybody before….

He’s…… never been that scared at  _all_ …….

……. …….. ………

He would go back to ignoring it. That much was for certain.

Not only that. He’d actively  _avoid_ the topic.

Because he didn’t know how to  _cope_ with that fact.

He didn’t know  _how_ ….

…… It would be years until he was forced to dwell on this inevitability again….

—

—

—

He was pacing. Why was he pacing? There’s work that needs to be done, files to be sorted through, taxes to be paid…. and here he was, wasting time, pacing. Back and forth, back and forth in his cold, red office.

_Wow, nine years! That’s a long time!_

The words echoed in his head like a cruel symphony, playing over and over.

_Got anything special planned for the tenth anniversary? It’s a big one!_

Why did she have to make it sound like such a damn  _achievement?_

_It’s so heartwarming to see a couple so dedicated to each other! That’s so rare these days, you know?_

Damn her. Damn her to  _Hell_.

_Why, I’ll bet you two will be one of the lucky few that spends the rest of your **lives** together!_

**_SMASH!!!_ **

Black Hat didn’t even realize he had picked up the red skull on his desk until he launched it through a window. With a snarl of pure frustration, he begrudgingly slumped down into the chair at his desk, yanking some papers out of one of its drawers, and mindlessly scanned the words written on it in a futile attempt to drown out his thoughts, but that didn’t last long.

“Black Hat….!?”

The demon glared at the door in annoyance, Flug’s worried voice snapping his attention back to reality.  _“What?”_  He growled bitterly.

His employee slowly wandered inside, his worried gaze first falling upon the broken glass of one of the windows behind Black Hat before falling on the eldritch himself. “I-I was coming to see you, and I h-heard the crash….” His voice was hollow and breathless, probably from having run from the grocery store they had just been at all the way back here. Placing the white bag of groceries on the ground, he took slow steps towards Black Hat, frowning with concern as he looked from the shattered window to him again. “S-Sir…. Are you  _okay…?_  What’s wrong……?”

 _“Nothing,”_  was the immediate response as the demon returned his attention to the papers. Perhaps  _too_ immediate, he realized after saying it, but was clearly trying to play it off as, well,  _nothing_.

“Black Hat,  _come on_.” Flug replied disbelievingly, knowing eyes seeing right through his boss. “You, for no reason that ** _I_** can see, yelled at a checkout clerk to shut up and then stormed off. Now I finally catch up to you, and…” He gave the broken window another pointed glance, then his eyes returned to the demon. The scientist leaned forwards when he reached the desk, just enough to place his hands down on it, and stared Black Hat directly in the eyes. “I’ve known you for almost  _twenty years_ , and you’ve  _never_ been good at hiding when something’s bothering you.”

“I didn’t like her face,” was the eldritch’s half-assed answer, plucking his quill pen out of its ink well to jot what might as well have just been scribbles down on one of the papers. He was purposefully avoiding Flug’s eyes, and the scientist knew it.

“…. If you yelled at everybody you didn’t like the face of, you wouldn’t last a  _day_ outside.” Flug smirked weakly, trying to at least lighten the mood. Whatever this mood was.

No response from Black Hat. He continued to write.

With a sigh, Flug drew back, standing up straight again and crossing his arms. “ _Talk to me_ , Black Hat…..  ** _Please_** ….. What did she even say to set you off, huh…? She was just trying to strike up friendly conversation-”

_“Conversation is not her **job**. She should have just  **minded her own business.** ”_

“….. Black Hat. Do you remember the first time you cried?”

Black Hat’s pen went still, but his eyes remained averted. “….. Of course.”

“And do you remember promising me that you’d  _talk_ to me when something was wrong?”

Somehow he knew that promise would come back and bite him in the ass someday. The demon put the quill aside, quiet for some time.

“…. Well….?” Flug urged softly, concern growing stronger with each passing second.

Quiet still.

Finally, Black Hat gave eye contact, once-emotionless expression weakening with an almost unnoticeable hint of sadness. “…………. You’re going to  _die_.” He honestly said it like a threat. And it would have really sounded like one if not for that pained strain it took him to even say it. “You’re going to die, and I’ll be….”  He trailed off for a moment, barely able to finish that thought. Looking down, his voice lowered to a forlorn whisper. “…. I’ll be…  _here_ …..”  

……………. Oh.

 _ **Oh**_.

Oh fuck, no  _wonder_ he got so upset with that lady. Ten years must seem like  _nothing_ to him.

“B-Black Hat… I….” The scientist couldn’t even find the words. What could he  _possibly_ say? When it came to the unavoidability of Flug’s death, they’d always just…. brushed the topic under the rug, or….

He started to step forwards, but Black Hat raised his hand as a sign to stop. “Just…. forget it, Flug. It…. it doesn’t matter.” The demon looked down, going back to writing in a futile attempt to distract himself. “When the time comes, I’ll… I’ll adapt. I always do.”

“H-Hey, it’s not like I’m going to be as short-lived as a human…!” Flug tried to say, offering a weak smile, “I-I mean, I’m part souleater! I’m  _bound_ to live longer than a human, right?”

“I’d guess you have six hundred years at best.” Black shot that attempt at a bright side down, flipping a page, “Souleaters don’t live much longer than a millennium, and your human half ought to drag that down substantially.”

“W-Well…. M-Maybe I can figure something out…! I mean, maybe I can find some way to extend my lifespan, or–!”

“Please stop, Flug…” The volume on Black Hat’s voice was stuck on painfully low, eyes locked looking down. But the plea was more than enough to quiet Flug.

Black Hat doesn’t plead.  

“I don’t…. I don’t want to think about this anymore…  _Please,_ just… drop it…”

Despite Flug opening his mouth, he failed to produce a sound.

_This isn’t something I can just **drop**._

_We should **really** talk about this._

_What good does continuing to dismiss this subject even **do**?_

Each thought that crossed his mind, Flug couldn’t bring himself to say out loud.

 _I don’t want to think about this anymore_ …

He just sounds so….  _sad_ …..

The scientist’s mouth slowly fell shut again. He couldn’t bring himself to push this on him. Instead of speaking, he walked over to his husband’s side, leaning down to wrap his arms around him and nestled his head onto Black Hat’s shoulder. “I’m going to the kitchen to put our things away.” He said softly. “Come down in an hour or so? I’ll take care of dinner tonight.”

To no one’s surprise, no effort to make eye contact was made on the demon’s part still. He just gave a small nod.

Flug at least got a tiny purr out of him after leaving a couple of loving kisses on his face. That was probably the best he was going to get.

He eventually made it outside the room, but lingered by the door, heart heavy with the weight of guilt and concern. Inhaling slowly, he forced himself to leave the office behind him.

Black Hat’s going to be alone.

Flug will eventually die, and Black Hat will be alone….  _forever_ …..

….. The scientist had to shake those thoughts out of his head as best he could.

There’s… no sense in fretting over the inevitable…. Black Hat knows that, after all, it’s probably why he doesn’t want to simply even  _talk_ about it…

Their time is precious. Might as well make the most of it.

…. With one more heavy sigh, Flug straightened his back and wandered in the direction of the kitchen, leaving whatever he could of these thoughts behind him.


End file.
